Peaches (Solution No. 581)

The solution to puzzle no. 581 from August 21, 1954 is below the fold

Thanks to a fortuitous combination of circumstances, we had some wonderful fresh and very ripe peaches to eat last week.  We have a little peach tree next to the shed.  It was put in about 15 years ago when we had the landscaping done (took down the ugly norway maple that the previous owners had “lollipopped” [in the words of the landscaper]--the weeping cherry that replaced it died in a hard winter a couple of years ago).  Turns out the tree isn’t in a particularly good place: the ground is too wet, but it’s survived.

Circumstance 1: Cold winter, late spring.  The spring warm-up was two or three weeks late and the garden is still a week or so behind where it usually is.

Circumstance 2: The town cut down the willow tree in the little park over our back fence.  There was a huge willow there—it was big enough to hold an entire flock of starlings (which if you’ve ever seen starlings you’ll understand).  The starlings have gone elsewhere, which means there are fewer birds pecking at the peaches before they’re ripe.  One year we tried bird netting but it didn’t stop the starlings.

Circumstance 3: Sabers and I came back from the family vacation early because he had select chorus “boot camp” at school.

As a result, I got to pick a bowl full of delicious, juicy peaches that were a perfect four or five bites big.

Seeing a pattern? (solution no. 1,066)

The solution to The Nation puzzle no. 1,066 (from 50 years ago last week) is below the fold.

Boy that was tough.  I had to resort to the answer key six times there, but when a puzzle combines very obscure words with non-Ximenean cluing, it’s gonna be murder.  Much of the rest needed intersecting letters, and in a few cases I still don’t have a clue about what Frank Lewis was intending.  Can any of you figure them out?

On the other hand, I’ve found a Shakespeare reference in each of the Lewis puzzles we’ve tackled so far.  Was this a signature?

Another official in the family (Solution No. 3,323)

Philip (the class of the division), Sabers, and Willie

Well that was an interesting weekend.  Sabers punched his ticket to Nationals and we upped number of officiating credentials in the family by 67%.

After stepping in to referee a few bouts at the fencing tournament a few weeks ago so one of our originally-scheduled refs could compete and qualify the tournament for a higher rating, I figured I should get properly trained and tested. The club had a seminar Saturday, and I passed the test with flying colors—interpreting and explaining why a point in line wasn’t valid, and then spotting the missing tip screw in an epee. So now I have a third refereeing certification. I’m pretty sure there’s never been another combination hockey, fencing, and cricket official before.

Then The Other Doctor Mitchell got a call Sunday morning: one of the people assisting with the skating competition at her club had to go to the hospital—could she come early and serve as accountant?  She agreed, and when she got there, the head accountant explained the basics of the job and said he’d guide her through it.  He didn’t know that the essentials of the job: entering and organizing data, spotting errors and inconsistencies, and staying cool under pressure happen to be The Other Doctor Mitchell’s fortes.  By the end of the day, he was insisting that he put her name in to the USFSA to be added to their roster of officials.  That’s great because even if she doesn’t get paid for this, they’ll take care of travel expenses for events that she works, possibly some of the events Bangle will be skating at this fall.  That will come at a good time, since she’s up to the level now where she and her mom are both on track to qualify for their respective Nationals.

Not quite flying colors on this puzzle though.  I can’t fully parse 13d.  Any of you get it?

Catching up (Solution No. 3,283)

I had my hands full this week, in more ways than one.  While I might not finish solving the The Nation cryptic on the first crack at it, I usually get the remaining bits by the weekend for the usual Monday solution post.  That didn't happen this week.  Not with 12d.  So it got tied up in the work week, and I went on to some less-frustrating solves before finally giving in and going to the computer to figure out 12d.

On the other hand, the theme was pretty easy to find, especially if you know someone who went to Iowa State, in Ames.

Solution and annotation below the fold.